Published Mar 19, 2026, 2:32 PM EDT
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
The Ultimate Universe is coming to a close, and things look particularly bleak heading into the midway point of the major event that will serve as the climax of the current Ultimate Universe.
The Maker, an evil alternate reality version of the main Marvel Universe Reed Richards, has created this alternate version of Marvel's Earth in his image. He has made sure that no superheroes could exist, and that the whole world would be ruled by the Maker and his underlings. However, one of his underlings, Howard Stark, broke free of the Maker's control, and trapped the Maker in a mysterious domed city for two years.
In the last two years, Howard's son, Tony, has begun creating superheroes, preparing themselves for the return of the Maker. Two years are now up, and Tony and a small group of heroes have entered The City to look for the Maker, and were shocked to see that thousands of years had passed inside the City, and Howard had gone insane hundreds of years earlier, but had managed to keep the Maker under control...until THIS Earth's version of Reed Richards, called Doom (who had been tortured by the Maker for years) seeming betrayed the heroes, and led to Howard's death.
Now, in this CBR exclusive preview of next week's Ultimate Endgame #3, by writer Deniz Camp, artists Jonas Scharf, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson, colorists Terry Dodson and Edgar Delgado (Delgado colored Scharf, Dodson colored himself), and letterer Cory Petit, we see what happens next!
ULTIMATE ENDGAME #3 (of 5)
DENIZ CAMP (W) • TERRY DODSON & JONAS SCHARF (A) • Cover by MARK BROOKS
BLACK PANTHER VARIANT COVER BY JONAS SCHARF
MOVIE HOMAGE VARIANT COVER BY STONEHOUSE • VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VARIANT COVER BY TBA • VARIANT COVER BY TBA • VARIANT COVER BY TBA
THE END OF THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE DRAWS NEAR!
Inside the Maker’s City, a desperate group of heroes battles the terrifying Children of Tomorrow and discover some surprising allies! While outside the City, the Ultimates and other heroes of the Ultimate Universe must deal with the unspeakable power that has just been unleashed! With shocking twists, painful deaths and massive reveals, this epic is heating up fast. Don’t miss the ultimate super-hero event of the century!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
In the preview pages, we see that Tony Stark is falling apart in the wake of his father's death (no one knows that Doom secretly aided the Maker in ending Howard's life), and the other heroes he is with are trying to snap him out of it so that they can get out of there alive.
Meanwhile, outside the City (which, due to the time distillation effects in the City, months have passed), Richard Parker is trying to find ways to help, when his mother, and his great-uncle Ben Parker, explain to him that he can best help by helping them distribute the news of the villainy of the Maker's Council, and how the heroes continue to fight back.
That's when they are visited by the Vision, a key member of the Ultimates who had only recently revealed his existence. The Vision is helping the Ultimates stay online, and get their story out there even as the villains try to block the information.
At the end of the preview, we see that the Japanese X-Men are headed to the City, as well, which is where Erik Killmonger also went last issue. It appears as though there might be a convergence of major importance at the City, with the heroes outside and the heroes inside coming together in a big way, but HOW that will happen will have to be revealed by reading Ultimate Endgame #3, out next week!
English (US) · 